Quieting Gutters and Downspouts

Use this rope trick to silence the drips

Metal gutters with twists and turns can get noisy when water drips down and splashes against the elbows, but there's a surprisingly simple fix for the problem.

By the DIY experts of We do everything by our own hands Magazine

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Rope and caulk are all you need

Figure A: Drip-no-more solution

Squirt a bead of gutter seaming caulk around the drain opening, leaving a 1/4-in. gap. Use the same caulk to glue a 3/8-in.-diameter nylon rope next to the gap and drop it down the gutter and out the opening. Then glue it to the bend in the elbow.

Gutter downspouts with elbows can sometimes amplify the sound of water dripping through them, and if the gutter is close to a bedroom window this can get annoying. Contractors have tried fixes like installing a lead plate in the elbow and then a magnetic cushioned plate, but those fixes usually just change the tone from a metallic drip, drip, drip to a thud, thud, thud sound.

Here’s a better way to solve the problem. Caulk around the gutter drain and install a length of nylon or poly rope (Figure A). The water will wick down the rope instead of free-falling and hitting the elbow.

Required Tools for this Project

Caulk gun

Required Materials for this Project

Avoid last-minute shopping trips by having all your materials ready ahead of time. Here’s a list.